Lost and Found
by Harukichi
Summary: [AxC] Post after Destiny...My version on what will happen after Destiny and Final Plus...She was like a piece of glass – hard yet fragile at the same time. She tried to act tough but tears kept on flowing out her eyes.
1. Lost

**LOST**

She was like a piece of glass – hard yet fragile at the same time. She tried to act tough but tears kept on rolling down her cheeks.

"I'm okay," she said with her shaky voice. "Just dust in my eyes."

She smiled a weak smile. The tips of her lips quivered as she smiled at him. He looked down at her apologetically. His heart ached as he looked at the state she was in. He did not want them to be like this. They just…had to.

With the sunset as the background, her amber eyes glowed from the tears she shed. Birds were dancing freely in the sky. Both of them looked up, longingly at the sky.

_I hope we could be like them…_

"I'll be back-," he said diverting his eyes at elsewhere other than her face. "-when the time comes."

Her eyes reflected sadness and sorrow, his eyes showed pain and guilt.

Through her tears, she shook her head. "No, it's okay, really," she said in her low tone.

"No, I **will** come back, here," he insisted.

"Athrun."

"I'll come back and-"

_And? What is he going to say?_ "Hm?"

"-and be with you," he finished with a determined look on his face.

She looked at him, eyes half-widened. Her face was now dry from tears, still with the lines on her cheek. A smile touched her lips.

"Be with me," she repeated his words. Those words kept on echoing inside her head. A bigger smile plastered on her face.

"Y-yeah," he said, nearly stumbled with his words. His eyes darted away from her face.

She looked at his face, as though trying to carve his handsome feature in her mind. "Em," she replied. Her eyes closed with delight.

He turned his head to face her. He smiled as he saw her smiling.

She could see his face fully now. "Athrun, your face is red," she said with a tiny giggle.

"E-eh? I-it's because of the sunset, Ca-Cagalli," he stammered in embarrassment. "Really," he said in his deep tone.

She was still smiling.

He was indeed glad that she took it positively. Relieved, he took hold her arms and he crushed her petite body in his strong arms.

"I'll come back-," he repeated. "-to be with you," he whispered in her ear as he hugged her closer.

"Em," was her only reply.

They stayed like that for a few moments until half of the sun was gone behind the line of the horizon.

"I have to go now," he said, pulling away. He looked at her face once again. She was still smiling with her eyes glistened in the amber light.

"Em."

"I'm going," he said again.

"Em," she responded, standing at the same spot where he hugged her.

He turned around and walked away, slowly towards his Gundam, _the _Infinite Justice. As he arrived at his cockpit, he took his last glance at Cagalli.

_This will be the last time we meet, like this, Cagalli…_

_For a long time…_

She was still at the same spot when she waved high at him. He smiled, looking at her direction as he flown towards the darkening amber sky, to the space, to the PLANT.

She stared at his path as he took off. The smile was still on her face. She clasped her fingers together, placed the on her chest and hoped.

_I hope…_

_That someday…_

_Fate… _

_Will permit us…_

_To meet again…_

_Athrun…_

**I actually got my inspiration to write this fic out of my glasses. Just somehow, it turns into this! **

**I really dunno what to say about this one. It's rather…boring and confusing, I think. Anyway, this is my 1st time writing a fic. So, yoroshiku onagaishimas'!**

**Well then, give me your thoughts about it. I'll try to improve it.**

**Uh, I'm not studying for my PMR exam… sigh**

**I've fix some typing errors and wrong words, thanks a lot to my best friend and herGREEN ink…**


	2. The News?

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam SEED or anything related to it. I just simply own this fic.**

It had been five long years since Athrun and Cagalli met face to face with each other. Of course, they did have meetings and discussions, but as representatives of ORB and of Eternity, the organization which help to maintain the peace between Coordinator and Natural — but never as Athrun or Cagalli themselves.

Five years ago, Athrun was elected to be the leader of Eternity, alongside Kira, by both PLANT Supreme Council and by Natural country leaders, since they were big help in stopping Dullindal's hideous plan. That was the reason why Athrun had to travel to PLANT five years ago, together with Kira and Lacus, the new PLANT Chairwoman, thus leaving Cagalli alone in ORB.

Five years had been a long time for Cagalli. Since ORB had long achieved peace, there was not much to do besides a few constructions here and there. Other than working in her office or attending meetings or political discussions, she practically had nothing to do. Because of that, Kisaka hired a tutor for her. He insisted that she had to study more about ORB, laws of ORB, and she even had to memorise every treaty that involved ORB, or anything which involved Coordinator-Natural relation.

Gosh, she missed them all – Kira, Lacus and especially him, her beloved, Athrun. Certainly, all four of them, or at least, three of them had been busy these past years — attending meetings, conventions, and political discussions and maintaining peace between Coordinator and Natural. Surely, she had been a part of all of those; after all, she was one of the Neutral country representatives.

She sat there on a stone by _her _shore, alone, accompanied by the gentle sound of wave. Her feet were dangling in the water as it massaged her sore feet muscle. Her eyes were locked on the line of horizon, watching the Sun setting just behind the deep blue sea. She admired the gorgeous view in front of her.

Calm wind caressed her face, and at the same time, playing with her strands of golden hair. She closed her eyes, feeling her ultimate bliss.

However, her bliss was cut short as a sharp sound of vehicle engine reached her ears, followed by a loud screeching noise of tyres. Feeling annoyed, she opened her eyes and started to glare at the source of those sounds. Nevertheless, her glare stopped as her amber eyes spotted an angry looking Kisaka, standing right beside his car, sending daggers towards the young princess. _Oops…_

"_Princess _Cagalli," came his warning tone, as he headed towards her direction.Sweat beads started to form on her forehead. She looked at him and smiled sheepishly. Her anger turned into panic in an abrupt moment. "Twenty-fifth time this month."

She could only laugh stupidly.

"Anything to say, _dear princess_?" A vein popped on his head.

_What to say? What to say?! _(I don't think Allows '?!' Oh wait. I know so since I cannot put those symbols in…dammit…grr...) _Ugh…_

He tapped his foot impatiently and his eyebrow began to twitch.

She sighed inwardly and took a deep breath. _Time to start giving excuses_. "I can't help it, Kisaka! He was so slow, even a snail walk could beat his slow talk! I can't even understand a word he says! He was like, spelling each word and kept on saying the same thing! I'm not a toddler!" She said and then, mocked her tutor's speech, "ORB-was-founded-by-a-group-of-travellers (A 'group', and then must have 'travellerSSS' mehh…) blah, blah, blah." And yep, she always gave the same excuse.

"Could you just give him a break?" asked Kisaka, sighing. "Sir Arthur Thrine may be the vice commander of Minerva, but he never has any _history and law _teaching experience before."

_Huh? _She stared at him as though he had just grown another head. _ Were my ears playing tricks on me?_

"What?!"

"Nothing!" came her quick reply. _I thought Kisaka somehow very much dislikes him and at least think of him as his rival,_ Cagalli sweat dropped. _And here, it seems to me he is defending him. Plus, I was thinking that I might get a super duper extra long lecture from him. _She sweat-dropped.

True, Kisaka did thought of Arthur as his rival. To him, Arthur was showing too much fatherly affection towards the princess that he thought he was trying to steal Cagalli from him, whom he thought of his own daughter. For example, he bought her a car for her birthday present. A car! For her birthday! Isn't that what a father should give to his daughter (in his point of view)!

_And I still don't understand why he arranged him to be my tutor._ Though she admitted that having a teacher from the side that tried to destroy ORB and tried to kill her twin brother was awkward, she took her time and adapt to her situation. At first, Arthur acted as stiff as a robot (she did not dare skipping his classes that time), but later on, he warmed up and plus, he even competed with Kisaka to be her 'father'.

He was like: "_Papa_ don't want you to get hurt!"

And then, she was like: _Huh?!? _Heck, she did not even call her own father 'papa' since years ago.

"Why did you arrange Mr. Arthur to be my tutor? Why don't you arrange Marrue to be my tutor? I thought you don't like him," asked Cagalli, voicing her thoughts.

"In case you've forgotten, Miss Ramius – I mean, Mrs. Fllaga is currently busy with her family, especially her three little boys," answered Kisaka, seeming to ignore her last comment. "Oh, and she told me to tell you that she had another one coming in the next eight months." Cagalli was half-heartedly startled by the news she was receiving. _Another one is coming? And I keep on thinking that she has had enough of those three devilish mini Fllagas._

"Oh, I see," said her, covering her little shock.

"Yes, Miss Cagalli," replied Kisaka. Then, he suddenly remembered another thing that he had yet to tell her. "Ah, another thing, princess."

"Quit calling me that," Cagalli snapped, looking irritated. "What is it?"

"As I was saying…" Kisaka stopped and think. "What was it? Let me see."

"I don't think you're too old to forget the thing you about to tell me," said she, tapping her finger.

"I'm sorry, _princess_, but because of your interruption, I _accidentally _forgot," replied Kisaka, annoyed, either because of his weak short-term memory or because of Cagalli's interruption. "Let me think for awhile."

"I'm waiting."

He ignored her complaint and concentrated hard on thinking.

Think…

Think…

Think…

Finally, "Ah, yes!" shouted he suddenly, remembering the so-called thing.

"You don't have to shout that loud!" Cagalli shouted back, rubbing her ears.

"No interruption, Miss Cagalli," said he. "As I was saying, Miss Lacus called and left a message for you," said he with a smile on his face, looking satisfied with his memory.

Cagalli's face brightened. She had not met Lacus or even heard from her for a long time. _I wonder how she's doing._

"She asked me to inform you to check your e-mails," said he as-a-matter-of-factly.

"And?" asked Cagalli, expecting for more.

"That's it," he said, nodding his head.

"That's it? Are you sure?" _Surely, she didn't say just that, right?_

"Yep, just that," confirmed Kisaka.

"THAT'S IT?! Bellowed Cagalli, her face darkening. "She didn't even say anything about herself? How's she doing? Her relationship with Kira?!"

"Nope."

Cagalli almost ripped her hair off. _I thought she would at least tell me about herself. _She tried to stay in contact with all of them; Lacus, Kira and Athrun even, but she did not get any word from them (as friends, not as representatives or chairwoman) for how long? Almost five years! Five freaking years! She did not even know about Athrun aside from news and newspaper. And she kept on wondering; _did he find another girl there, in PLANT? What is he doing right now? How is he doing?_

She took another deep breath to calm herself down. "Okay, I get it," she said dejectedly. "Anyway, what's the mail about?"

"She asked you to read it yourself," informed Kisaka.

"Good news or bad news?" she asked, trying to get something out of him.

"No idea. She said it's up to you to decide whether it's good or bad."

"Ugh, okay, okay," Cagalli almost shouting in frustration, finally giving up.

"Well then, let us get back to the mansion," said Kisaka lightly.

"Alright," sighed Cagalli, walking in slow pace.

_Whatever it is, it better be good news._

**Hello again. So here's the second chap. Anyway, thanks a lot for your reviews from the last chapter. They really mean a lot to me. Thanks a bunch too to Arisa-chan for checking my work and correcting my errors. Oh! Before I forget, sorry for the delay. I was stuck with exams, and Holmes (He's so cool!)…and lots of anime and games and…my sis kept on bugging me.**

**So, what d'you think of this chapter? Good? Bad? Not bad? The worst of all? I welcome _constructive critics_ but keep flames away! By the way, there's no Athrun here, just merely what happened to Cagalli after 5 years. He _may be_ out in the next chap. I don't know for sure, yet.**

**Please R&R.**

**-Haru**


	3. Surprise

**Disclaimer: I don't own any Gundam series and as I said before, I just simply own this fic.**

**To reviewers:**

**Arisa Aihara:**I am? Ohoho! I don't even know it…Doumo yo! But I still don't know I can pass the MARA exam. It was real tough, you know. I'm starting to get dizzy with just thinking about it.

**Minerva's cradle: **Yeah, no one deserves it. Flame sucks. I don't know about Fllaga. He's funny, I like him. I thought like 'Must insert him in the story' and there he is! Thanks!

**Canadain-Girl:** Yup, I'm still updating! And I hope, still writing…Thanks! It means a lot to me.

**Kitty-Kat90013820: **No need to worry. I'll update faster, if not, real fast. Thanks!

**cagalli-rox: **is it sad? But overall this fic is good, right? Thanks!

**Thanks a bunch, my dear(?) reviewers! Your reviews lift my spirit tenfold to update this fic.**

**Now, with the story…**

The first thing Cagalli noticed as she arrived at her manor that evening was the absence of Arthur. Usually, he would wait until she came back safe and sound and give a second lecture to her (she got her first one from Kisaka), as lengthy as Kisaka's. Their actions and words were so exact that she almost laughed at the thought (although both Kisaka and Arthur would never admit it);

First, came their warning tones with the words she despised – _'Princess Cagalli'._

Second would be their tapping foot.

Third, as always, came his ultimate annoyance – twitching eyebrow.

In the end, even though she had always faced the same situation many times before, she, too, acted the same way every time; she would start giving excuses — long excuses at that, even if she never had any _real _reason not to be in Arthur's tutor lesson. What she could possibly say other than the same 'He's boring' or 'He's as slow as snail' or 'He's too fast, I can't catch up' something about similar to those. She loved to work in her office rather than learn more of ORB in classes.

At least, while working, she could monitor ORB's condition and make observation on her people. She thought she had enough learning of ORB when she was little and never even thought that learning more about it would be a necessity. But according to Kisaka, she had to – he always said the same thing all over again, though in many kinds of words; '_in order to understand ORB more' _or '_as the heir of Athha' _or _'because you're the leader of ORB'_. She knew her father too had gone through all this and now, it was her time.

iii

She walked straight to her room, as she made sure that Kisaka had already gone to do his work. Her personal computer remained half-forgotten at the end of the room. It had been a long time since she had last turned her computer on. Nevertheless, it was still in a good condition. Kisaka insisted she had one for her personal use even though she never needed one. She often thought, _why would I need one since I could always use it in my office…?_

She then seated herself comfortably on her seat. Other than checking her inbox, and doing her research (Arthur _forced_ her to do as her _school project – _she never knew what was the use of doing one) she did not know what other things to do with it. Realizing it was already dark outside, she looked at her watch, which read 11.30 pm. _Wow, time sure fly fast,_ she thought absent-mindedly.

Her inbox contained many unread message – one hundred and ninety six to be exact. She knew most of them were junk e-mails. Maybe all of them except for the one that Lacus gave. _I don't know how those junks got here._

Her hand moved back and fro, guiding the mouse up and down. Her eyes carefully read the title of each e-mails she had, at the same time, her hand deleting every junk e-mails she had. _Ha! Here it is._

Her forefinger clicked on the e-mail – the one entitled _'Long time no see' (AN: eh?)._ Her eyes widened a bit as she read its content.

_Dear Cagalli, _

_As usual, how are you? I know it had been a very long time since we last met. I think, it's four years and eight months in precise. I also know that this kind of seem abrupt. I hope it didn't bother your work. _

_As if I have a lot of work, _she thought silently, her eyes still glued on the monitor.

_I'm very sorry for my inconvenience to leave a further message to Kisaka. Knowing you, both Kira and I know you must be a little, if not a lot, ticked off by my short message. Not to worry, maybe it's worth your _patience.

Cagalli sweat-dropped. Kira and Lacus sure knew her a lot to be able to predict what her exact action. Surely, she had thrown her head off at Kisaka earlier at the shore.

_Guess what?! We're leaving for ORB, tonight. We might arrive there by tomorrow evening._

Her eyes widened and her feature brightened. _They're coming here? _Her eyes then caught Lacus' words:

_As your friends, as in just Kira and Lacus if you're wondering._

Her lips curved into a wonderful smile. _As themselves? It would be fantastic. _But then, her mind was seized on a thought: _what about Athrun? _

_If you're wondering about Athrun, we'll let you know about him by tomorrow. It should be a surprise, though. Well then, see you tomorrow. If you will, you could watch us land in front of your manor. Bye, _dear princess.

_Sincerely, _

_Lacus (and Kira, though he's just watching me typing this mail)_

A vein popped on Cagalli's head. _That Lacus. When I get my hands on her…_she left her threat unfinished. Her eyes travelled towards her front yard. _They're landing there? Thank goodness there's a lot of free space to land._

She put her head on her hands as her hands were on the table. Her eyes glued at the monitor. _I wonder, what about Athrun? What surprise are they talking about?_ She stared at the word 'surprise' for a few moments, thinking; _Is it good? Or bad?_

Many what-if's appeared in her head. _What if Athrun had found another girl? What if he won't come back? What if he had an accident and had forgotten me?_ Her hands covered her face. _Now, I'm getting ridiculous. He's the representative of Eternity, for Justice's sake. If he had had one, they must be fussing about it on everywhere – TV, radio, and newspaper._

Yawns escaped her mouth and finally, she decided to go to sleep. She turned her computer off and headed towards her wardrobe to change into pyjamas.

She laid still on her bed, staring at her colourless ceiling. Her head was still filled with wondering what exactly they are going to tell her about Athrun.

_A surprise? What kind of surprise... that is. _She disliked surprises; in fact, she hated them because she did not know what await her. But, she had always liked good kind of surprise, which worth all her worries and shock.

She turned the light off and hoped as sleep claimed her;

_I wish, it'll be a _good_ kind of surprise._

**There it is, the third chapter! I need to get this story done before school starts. Plus, my exam result is out before Christmas! Which means, in about less than a week! Ugh…**

**Still no Athrun here, sorry.**

**By the way, please R&R and as I said before, I welcome _constructive critics_ but I accept no flames.**

**-Haru**


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